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Patented Nov. 24, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

FREDERICK A. PRATT, OF PAIVTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND.

BOWLI NG-ALLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,073, dated November 24, 1896.

Application filed April l, 1895. Serial No. 544,055. (No model.)

To cZZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. PRATT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pawtucket-,in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bowling-Alleys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic mechanism for setting up the pins and returning the balls; and it consists in the employment of magnets for holding the pins in their proper position on the bed of the alley and in means for raising the pins from the bed and for lowering the pins to the holding-magnets, as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a broken side elevation of a bowling-alley provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 represents a detail view showing a side view of the rack and gear for elevating the weights which are connected with the pins. Figy represents a detail top view showing the inclined bar and the pulleys thereon for guiding the chains or cords to which the elevating-weights are attached. Fig. 4 represents a detail front elevation with a portion of the score-board broken away, showing the elevating-weights at the back of the scoreboard. Fig. 5 represents a detail vertical section taken in the line 5 5 of Fig. l. Fig. G represents a central longitudinal section of the inclined floor of the pit. Fig. 7 represents a detail transverse section taken in the line 7 7 of Fig. 6.

In the drawings7 A represents the bed of the alley; B, the pit 5 C, the run, and D the pins, which are placed over the poles of the electromagnets E, which extend upward to the level of the bed A, as shown in Fig. 5. Directly over the pins D and at a suitable distance therefrom are placed the conical guides F, which are held in the frame P, and over each of the said conical guides is placed a pulley a, over which the chain or cord b, attached to the upper end of the pin D, is drawn, the said conical guides serving to properly center the raised pins over their holding-magnets and prevent lateral vibration. The chains or cords b from the several pins, after passing over the pulleys c, pass over a corresponding series of pulleys o, and thence to a corresponding series of pulleys CZ,

arranged upon the horizontal inclined bar G, around which therchain or cords' b are delected to the pulleys e at the top of the case H, at the front of which is placed the scoreboard IV, and to the ends of the chains or cords b are attached the weights I, which serve to raise the pins D from the bed A to vthe conical guides F whenever the said pins 6o have been loosened from the attracting-face of the magnets E, the weights in this case passing downward from the upper portion of lthe case H to the table J, from which the parallel rods ff extend downward to the racks g g', which engage with the pinions h h upon the shaft z', the said shaft being driven by means of the loose clutch-pulleys 7c 7c' and the sliding clutch-sleeve m, the pulley k being driven in one direction by means of an 7o open belt Z and the pulley k by means of a crossed belt Z', the belts being shown in section in Fig. l. The clutch-sleeve 'mis operatively connected with the pedal n by means of the bell-crank lever o and suitable connecting-links, so that by the downward movement of the pedal 'n the clutch-sleevem may be thrown into engagement with the proper clutch-pulley for causing the elevation of the table J with the weights I, which rest thereon. 8o

To the lower end of the hanger 19, which supports the shaft i, is pivoted the weighted lever q, from which connection is made with the outer arm of the bell-crank lever o by means of the link r, and to the side of the hangera and connected by means of the link a with the lever q, the clutch-sleeve m will be thrown into engagement with the clutchpulley k to cause the raising of the table J upon which the weights I rest, and the up ward movement of the table J will continue roo until the pin s strikes the end of the lever q, thus serving to throw the clutch-sleeve m out of engagement with the clutch-pulley lo. Then the weighted end q' of the lever q will serve When- 9o to carry the clutch-sleeve m into engagement with the reVersely-moving clutch-pulley 7s to carry the table J down to its former position to rest upon the bottom of the case II, and when the table J has reached such downward position the pin s will strike the upper side of the end of the lever q, to throw the clutchsleeve m out of engagement to an intermediate point between the clutch-pulleys, and upon such elevation of the table J the previously-raised pins D will be brought down by their own weight to rest upon the magnets E, which serve to hold the pins in their set position against the upward pull derived from the suspended weights I.

lVhen the pins D are set in order on the bed A of the alley and the balls M are rolled, the pins which are dislodged from the magnets are carried upward by the attached weights, which drop from their suspended position at the top of the case II to the table J, and the number of pins so dislodged will be seen through the openings 'u made in the front of the case II below the score-board IV.

The floor K of the pit B is made to incline toward the buffer N, as shown in Fig. 6, and also incline laterally toward the inclined lifting table L, as shown in Fig. 7, the said floor K being also provided with a rising portion whereby the balls will be kept away from the buffer when rolling laterally toward the inclined lifting table L, the said lifting table being operated in its up-a-nd-down movement simultaneously with the table J by means of the continuous shaft i, the pinions 7L 7L', and the racks ggf/2, which are connected by means of the rods f f" with the table L and guided by the hanger u.

The automatic mechanism for raising the weights I and the balls M may be Varied from that shown and described, or the tables upon which they rest may be elevated by hand-operated mea-ns, if desired.

I claim as my invention-- l. The combination of the over-balancingweights, with the pins, the connecting chains or cords, and the magnets, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the magnets, and the pins, with means acting to overbalance and raise the pins, and means for lowering the FREDERICK A. PRATT.

lVitnesses:

SOCRATES SCHOLFIELD, HARRY J. GARCEAU. 

